1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a semiconductor light-emitting element provided with an electrode for wire bonding.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional semiconductor light-emitting element is known in which a buffer layer, an n-type layer, a light-emitting layer and a p-type layer are formed in this order on a substrate formed of sapphire (see, e.g., JP-A-2000-77717). The p-type layer and the light-emitting layer are partially removed by etching, an n-electrode is formed on the exposed surface of the n-type layer, and a light-transmissive p-electrode is formed on the p-type layer. An insulation film is formed on the p-type layer, a surface of the p-electrode is exposed by opening a portion of the insulation film and a pad electrode is formed on the exposed p-electrode.
In the meantime, in the semiconductor light-emitting element described in JP-A-2000-77717, a material in ohmic contact with the p-electrode needs to be selected as a material of the pad electrode, and there may be no other choice but to select a material having a low reflectance to the light emitted from the light-emitting layer. In addition, it is necessary to form the pad electrode so as to have a relatively large area in light of connection to a bonding wire. This causes a problem that an amount of light absorption by the pad electrode is large, resulting in a decrease in light extraction efficiency of an element.